Our latest Young Naturalists session was all about photography. We were hoping to be joined by Clare, a local landscape photographer, who unfortunately couldn’t make it, so we are hoping to get her to one of our sessions later in the year. Meanwhile, we took out our phones and cameras and took lots of images of the wildlife.
We started with the moth trap, where we were joined by Simon, who is a moth expert, and who not only identified all the moths we found, but also gave good tips on getting the best photos. After a warm night, there were loads of moths to choose from, so here’s a selection:
One of the most striking moths in the trap was an Elephant Hawk Moth, and Fletcher caught this spectacular front-on close up:
Of all the moths which regularly turn up at Blashford, I think my favourite is the Buff-tip, which looks exactly like a broken birch twig:
We spent the rest of the morning in the wildflower meadow, where there were lots of insects to photograph, and we had sweep nets to catch and have a good close look at the different species. I think Rosie’s ground-level photo of the meadow captures it perfectly:
The damselflies were everywhere around us, though they were difficult to photograph, as they don’t settle for long. Here are a couple of shots:
After lunch, we checked the hoverfly lagoons (no sign of hoverfly larvae yet), and had a go at clearing some of the slime off the pond, before heading down to Ivy Lake for a final try to capture more images of the day. I finally got my camera out, and took a shot of one of the resident black-headed gulls (why isn’t it called a brown-headed gull?):
The Young Naturalists group is open to all 13 to 17 year-olds, and this month’s session gives you the chance to be a tree for the day. Its on Sunday, 31st July, from 10am to 2:30pm, more details and to book a place, click here:
Blashford Lakes Young Naturalists: Tree Challenge Tickets, Sun 31 Jul 2022 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
Nigel Owen
Young Naturalists Leader
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 